Doyle/Democrat photo
Somersworth's Cody Bryant, left with helmet, is about to get mobbed by his teammates after scoring the winning run in the Hilltoppers 8-7 win over Bow in the Division III semifinals at SNHU.

HOOKSETT — Eamon Smith had swung and missed on the first two pitches he saw. There was no way he was going to hesitate to swing at the third. It was the right decision.

With the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth inning, Smith connected on a high and inside fastball and sent it past a diving shortstop to give the Somersworth High School baseball team an 8-7, walkoff win over Bow in the Division III semifinals at Southern New Hampshire University, sending the Hilltoppers to the championship game for the fourth time in five years.

“After those first two pitches, I knew what was coming,” said Smith, who had three hits on the afternoon. “I knew he was going to throw me another fastball. I saw it and it's my favorite pitch. (I) saw it go up the middle and I saw the shortstop dive for it and my heart stopped when it went through. It was the best feeling I've ever had in my life.”

Somersworth had led 6-0 and 7-1 at one point, but Bow chipped away at the lead and capped the rally with a pair of runs in the seventh, both of which came after it was down to its last strike.

The second-seeded Hilltoppers will face No. 1 Campbell on Saturday (10 a.m.) at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium in Manchester. Both teams are 17-2. Campbell was a 10-0 winner over No. 12 Berlin (11-8) in the second semifinal. No. 14 Bow's season is over at 12-8.

“It wasn't shocking to me,” Somersworth coach Dave Kretschmar said about Smith's game-winning hit. “He's a baseball player. We have a team of fastball pitchers. He gets three strikes for a reason.”

The Hilltoppers took a 7-5 lead into the top of the seventh inning, and pitcher Mike Paquette quickly dispatched the first two Bow batters with strikeouts. Then he surrendered a walk and a pair of singles to load the bases, then another walk to score a run and make it a 7-6 game.

A blunder by Kretschmar led to the end of Paquette's night on the mound. He walked to the mound to talk to Paquette, unaware that because it was his fifth visit, he was required to make a pitching change and Paquette was unable to return to the mound.

“It's a rule I wasn't aware of,” Kretschmar said. “(Paquette) had to go. I won't make that mistake again. Hell of a way to learn it.”

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Doyle/Democrat photo
Somersworth pitcher Drew Colbert delivers a pitch during the first inning of Division III semifinal action against Bow Thursday at SNHU.

Cody Bryant, a sophomore with one prior inning of pitching experience all season, was called upon to pitch. He unleashed a wild pitch to score the tying run, then got the final Bow batter to strike out. Somersworth came up empty in the bottom of the frame, sending the game to extras.

“Definitely didn't expect that,” Bryant said. “I was told just to throw strikes and get through the innings, come back in and hit the ball.”

After holding Bow scoreless in the eighth (he allowed a leadoff walk), Bryant sparked the rally in the bottom of the frame with a one-out single to right field. Paquette was grazed in the helmet by a pitch for another baserunner, which was followed by a strikeout.

“We knew we were the 'home' team and as the home team we knew we'd have a chance to win,” Paquette said. “We weren't too worried about it. But it would have been nice to not go as long.”

Hunter Kretschmar then drew a one-out walk to load the bases, setting the stage for Smith.

“I don't care what anybody says, that kid is their best hitter,” Bow coach Ben Forbes said. “He did what good hitters do. Stuck the bat head out and we played him up the middle a little too much. That's what happens.”

Somersworth seemed well on its way to another D-III final appearance, and its third straight relatively painless playoff win, when it took a 6-0 lead with three runs in each of the first two innings. Three of the first four Somersworth batters walked, and Forbes wasted no time lifting starting pitcher Jeff Bell. Paquette and Smith had RBI singles and Drew Colbert hit a sacrifice fly to put Somersworth up 3-0 after one.

In the second, the Hilltoppers scored three more runs. Cordeiro reached on an error and scored on Paquette's RBI double. Hunter Kretschmar drove in Paquette with a single to left field and scored on double to deep left by Smith.

Bow got a run back in the third inning when Colbert, the starting pitcher, hit a batter with the bases loaded. Somersworth made it 7-1 in the bottom of the inning. Cordeiro hit a one-out single, then scored on an error when a fly ball by Paquette smacked the Bow left fielder right in the face.

The top of the fifth inning was nothing short of a disaster for Somersworth. Sam Morrow reached on an error to start the frame, then Colbert surrendered back-to-back triples to cut the Hilltoppers' lead to 7-3. Gavin Lacourciere then hit a sacrifice fly, and it was a 7-4 game after five.

“I was a little nervous, I'm not going to lie,” Colbert said. “But I knew we'd pull through. I just had to keep a level head and not let it show. That's kind of hard.”

Bow got another run in the sixth when No. 9 batter Sebastian Strong led off with a walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a throwing error. Colbert was lifted with two outs in the inning, finishing the game with 10 strikeouts in 5.2 innings. Paquette came in and struck out the next three batters before running into trouble in the seventh.